


I've Been So Good (Where the Hell Is the Karma?)

by itsthebooks



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bobby Wilson is a Ghost, F/M, Gen, M/M, Mentioned Carlos Molina, Mentioned Ray Molina, No beta we die like Sunset Curve, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Technically major character death, author doesn't know how to not swear, but its JATP so you know duh, it's sunset curve not sunset straight, mentioned Rose Molina (Julie and the Phantoms), rated for language, things will get rough but I promise a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:00:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29090196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsthebooks/pseuds/itsthebooks
Summary: The first thing Trevor noticed was the crying. The second thing he noticed was that he couldn't see anything. And the third thing he noticed was that he couldn't exactly move.ORBobby Wilson dies in 1997 and ends up joining the boys of Sunset Curve in 2020.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Alex Mercer & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Alex Mercer & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters & Julie Molina, Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Ray Molina & Rose, Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Rose, Bobby | Trevor Wilson/Reggie Peters, Julie Molina & Flynn (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 67
Kudos: 220





	1. it's totally just an auditory hallucination

**Author's Note:**

> So hello and welcome to my self-indulgent, Bobby is a ghost fic. There will be three chapters; I actually wrote the majority of the fic already, so no worries about me ghosting this fic (I'm sorry, the pun was *right* there). My plan is to update by Wednesday, but who knows!
> 
> Title from Karma by AJR  
> Inspired by this fanart: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJwuvO7lWRF/?utm_source=ig_embed

The first thing Trevor noticed was the crying. It was achingly familiar, but he couldn’t place where he had heard it before.

“ _Alex_ , dude, you gotta breathe man.”

“C’mon, follow me and Luke. In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four.”

 _No, no, no. They’re dead. Now is not the time to accept or engage with hallucinations, Trevor_. You’re… _well where the fuck are you?_

Trevor kept his eyes closed as he tried to think clearly about whatever he had been doing before he ended up in wherever he was. 

He had been, _shit_ , he had been in the car, on his way to the Orpheum for his LA debut to preview his first album. Trevor didn’t want to go by any means. The two-year anniversary of ~~his best friends dying~~ Sunset Curve disbanding was just a few weeks away, but his manager insisted. No one else knew he had ever been a part of Sunset Curve, so there really was no reason for Trevor to object to the venue.

But he had been in the car. His manager, Tommy, or whatever the fuck his name was, had insisted on someone driving him, but Trevor didn’t care. He knew this part of LA like the back of his hand; he’d walk the streets late at night when Alex needed to take a break from thinking about the world, or Luke had gotten himself too into whatever song and was one verse away from a total breakdown, or Reggie just needed someone to listen to him. No way was he about to create any memories of pre-show jitters with anyone that wasn’t the three people that had meant the most to him.

So he was in the car, alone, on the highway about fifteen minutes away from the Orpheum, and he probably was crying, he couldn’t remember. The local radio station had just come back from the commercial break, something about car loans, when a terribly familiar sound came through the speakers. 

_Take off, last stop_

_Count down ‘till we blast open the top_

He had been so focused on changing the radio station to _anything_ , anything that wasn’t Sunset Curve that he didn’t notice he had veered into the other lane. There was a shrill honk, the jerk of the seatbelt against his chest, the sound and then feeling of an airbag on his face, and then pain erupting from his side, knees, and head. 

So was he dead, or was he in a coma? He opened his eyes.

The second thing Trevor noticed was that he couldn’t see anything.

The third thing was that he couldn’t exactly move from where he was lying on the ground when he tried to see if he could see anything in… wherever he was. Well, at least that kept him from trying to get close to the boys – the hallucinations?

“In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. See, Alex, you’ve got this. You’re a natural. Who says dying makes it impossible to fucking breathe, huh?”

The crying stopped for a moment before starting louder and heavier.

“ _Reggie_.”

“Shit, sorry! Sorry. In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four.”

Okay, so if he was dead, and the boys were there, they probably would have noticed him, right? So this was a coma, and these were auditory hallucinations. Not the best thing in the world, but Trevor had to admit, his subconscious was being unusually kind to him. Letting him enjoy the sounds of his boys talking while simultaneously walking him through the panic attack he was bound to have.

“We’re gonna be fine, boys. We have each other, and that’s all we’ll need, okay?”

“Luke?”

“Yeah?”

“We’re gonna be fine.”

“I _just_ said that.”

“I know! I know you did, but it sounded like you needed to hear it too.”

Seriously, Trevor’s subconscious was being really unusually kind to him. His boys voices talking about inconsequential things, things he had heard thousands of times when Alex stressed himself out into an anxiety attack, or Reggie got nervous he would be stuck with his family forever, or Luke worried that maybe the band wasn’t going to go anywhere and Emily was right in not supporting him. Those were the conversations they had on the pullout couch in the dead of the night, the four of them packed like sardines, tugging blankets between them all as whoever were the unlucky two stuck on the outside complained that the other two were stealing blankets.

The voices continued talking in the background, but he wasn’t paying that much attention to what they said. All that mattered was enjoying what he heard while he could still hear it. Every other time he heard the boys voices were in his nightmares, where they told him how much they – rightfully – blamed him for not being there, for not saving them, for not coming to find them sooner. So when he finally got out of this coma, or the voices started talking to him, that’d be it; that’d be the end of this brief period of happiness. So he would take what he could get. 

Faintly, after a good forty-five minutes or so, Trevor heard the beginning of Now or Never. _Alright, guess it’s time to wake up and smell the roses_. 

“You guys,” there was a pause, and then a sniffle, “you guys hear that too, right?”

Trevor’s stomach dropped, and then he quite literally dropped through the sky. He let out a scream in unison with three other voices as he landed on a, on a rug? He let out a groan at the impact. _Shit, that’ll knock the wind out of ya_. He glanced to his left to the sight of the leather jacket and red flannel that haunted his dreams of the past two years.

 _Nope, nope, no._ He stood up with the other three as Luke let out a groan. “Woah, how did we get back here?” He looked straight at Trevor. “ _Bobby_?”

A girl started screaming. _Shit, fuck, no screaming, please no_. He started screaming too, and, like muscle memory, he grabbed immediately onto Reggie’s arm and held on tight. The girl ran from the room – _holy fuck this is the studio._ Why _was he back home and in the studio?_

“Bobby? What the hell, man, what are you doing here?” Alex asked, turning towards him. Trevor let go of Reggie’s arm.

“Yeah dude, you weren’t with us an hour ago. And what the fuck is that on your face? Is that a beard?” Luke walked toward him, pointing his finger towards Trevor’s face.

Trevor started walking backwards away from the three… hallucinations? He let out a hysterical giggle. He didn’t want to think about how he was able to touch Reggie, how the auditory hallucination turned visual, how maybe he was actually dead. None of that made any sense.

 _I have to get out of here_ , he thought to himself. There was a tugging in his gut, and then all of a sudden he was on the roof of the studio. _What the absolute fuck_? He let out a shaky breath and started wringing his hands as he sat himself down.

There was a poof to the right to him. Reggie was sat next to him, right there. He placed his left hand open, palm up, right next to Trevor, not looking at him. Trevor looked down at the hand, and then back up at Reggie, whose face didn’t change throughout it all. Trevor carefully placed his hand in Reggie’s and interlaced their fingers. Reggie grinned; his eyes soft as he looked down at their joined hands. His thumb slowly started to rub the back of Trevor’s hand. Holding his boyfriend’s hand again, it was like he could finally breathe after two years of a weight pushing on his lungs, his heart, telling him that there was something wrong, that there was something missing. It was so easy to fall right back into the same old habits with him.

“Wanna tell me what’s going on with you, Bobbers?”

 ~~Trevor~~ _Bobby_ let out a shaky breath. No one had called him that, with that much affection (though Rose had tried), in two years. “Not particularly, Reg.”

“You sure?” He finally looked over at Bobby. 

Bobby looked up at the sky, willing the tears that had started to well up in his eyes to go away. They didn’t and slowly trickled down his face. “Not particularly, Reg.”

“That’s okay. You just let me know,” He leaned his head on Bobby’s shoulder continued to rub Bobby’s thumb as the two looked out at the familiar street. Bobby focused on what he could feel; the callouses on the fingers that were touching the back of his hand, the way the shingles on the roof were digging into his ass, and the ache in his heart that had finally started to lessen just from being able to touch Reggie again. 

The girl opened up the gate as she tried to walk stealthily with slippers– was that cheetah print? – on her feet towards the studio. Bobby let out a single chuckle at the sight. The girl was oddly familiar. A fan? Did he meet her at a concert, or maybe at the recording studio?

“Think it’s time to face the music with her and our boys. You comin’?” Reggie gave his hand a soft squeeze and smiled at him.

The two poofed down next to Luke and Alex.

“Well, we’re all a little crazy,” Luke said jokingly. Clearly, Bobby had missed something.

The girl started screaming, again, this time holding a cross in front of her. Bobby and Reggie took a step back.

“Oh my god, please stop screaming!” Alex shouted back at her.

“What are you doing in my mom’s studio?” she asked. 

“Your mom’s studio?” Luke asked as he walked towards her. 

Bobby kept his hand firmly clasped in Reggie’s. There was no way he was having his boyfriend – were they still boyfriends? That didn’t matter right now – get any closer to the girl. 

“This is _our_ studio. Trust me, my – the grand piano is new – and, and, and – my couch!” Luke shouted as he flung himself onto _Bobby’s_ couch after circling all around the girl. “But that is definitely not my six string.”

“Oh, that’s mine,” Bobby said without thinking, “I think I leant it to Ro’ last week or somethin.’ But it should be at her place.”

Luke turned to him, and then looked up at the ceiling. “Can you give me just one second?” He asked as he climbed over the table towards Bobby and Reggie. “Give me a second, thank you.

“Guys, what is going on here? How did she get her stuff in here so fast? And Bobby, when did you get a new guitar?”

“Maybe, shit, maybe, she’s a witch. There’s chairs floating on the ceiling,” Reggie pointed up. Bobby tugged the hand down and rolled his eyes at the situation he somehow managed to get himself into.

“Three months ago, Luke,” _What the fuck? Shut up, Bobby_.

“Okay, there is no such thing as witches.”

“Three months ago? And you didn’t tell us?”

“You sure? I used to think there was no such thing as fucking ghosts,” Reggie paused and turned to Bobby. “Three months ago?”

“Sorry shouldn’t have brought it up, we’ll deal later,” Bobby winced. That was a can of worms he didn’t want to deal with just yet. But it was so easy to answer their questions; so nice to be able to talk to them. “So, we’re going with witch?”

“No! We are not going with witch,” Alex said, tilting his head at Bobby and giving him his _what-the-fuck? You’re explaining this later_ face. “She’s not a witch. Okay, look, she’s just scared. Okay, let someone with a softer touch handle this.”

“You mean the one who refused to go after an emotional Bobby? _Okay_ ,” Luke said under his breath. Bobby smacked him on the back of his head. It really was just too easy to get right back into the banter.

“Hey!” Luke groaned, rubbing the back of his head.

Alex stood in front of the girl. “Why are you in our studio?” he asked, almost shouting at her.

“Softer touch, uh-huh,” Bobby whispered in Reggie’s ear with a laugh. Reggie looked at him with pure glee in his face.

The girl shoved the cross into Alex, where it went _through_ him. 

“Oh my gosh! How did you do that?” she shouted at Alex.

“Okay, well, clearly you’re not understanding – clearly she doesn’t get it,” Alex said, turning to the three standing behind him. “Okay, look. We’re ghosts, all right? We’re just thre – _four_ – ghosts, and we’re really happy to be home. So thank you for the flowers; they really brighten up the room.”

Luke stepped forward. “We’re actually in a band called Sunset Curve.”

“Tell your friends!” Reggie interjected, smiling at the girl.

“Last night was supposed to be a really big night for us. It was gonna change our lives,” Luke explained. Bobby let out a small squeak, and Reggie’s head whipped around to look at him. Bobby shook his head and looked up at the ceiling.

“I’m, uh, I’m pretty sure it did,” Alex joked.

“Oh it did,” Bobby groaned. _For the love of god,_ Bobby _, shut up._

“This is freaking me out,” the girl said as she took out a large electronic device from her pocket.

“Yeah, this is freaking me out, too,” Alex said, turning to Bobby. “What the hell, man, I know you said we’d deal later, but you can’t keep dropping little hints and like there’s a puzzle we need to solve to get some answers.”

Luke pointed at the girl. “What is that? What are you doin’?”

“Lex, I – I don’t – it’s a lot,” Bobby tried to explain. “And, clearly, whatever she’s doin’ is a bit more important right now, right?”

Alex gave him his _what-the-fuck?_ face again.

“It’s my phone,” the girl said, seemingly ignoring everything Bobby said. “Nope! Stop talking to them. They aren’t real. There’s no such thing as cute ghosts.”

“Oh, think we’re cute?” Reggie asked as he nodded his head in the stupid way he always did on stage when he was basically flirting with the girls.

“Who you calling?” Alex leaned forward towards the girl.

“I’m googling Sunset Swerve.”

“Sunset _Curve_!” All four of the boys corrected. Reggie and Bobby letting go of the other’s hand, both drawing the curve.

The girl looked back at her phone. “Woah,” she started, “there is a Sunset Curve. You did die – well, just three of you – but not last night.” Bobby grabbed Reggie’s hand again and squeezed. “Twenty-five years ago?”

Bobby’s stomach dropped. No way _, no way_ had he been dead for twenty-three years. He had only been in that room or whatever for maybe an hour.

“ -at’s impossible! After we floated out of the ambulance all we did was go to that weird, dark room where Alex cried,” Reggie argued.

“Well…” Alex spoke with the high-pitched voice he always did when he wanted to draw people’s attention to literally anything else. “I don’t think – I think we were all pretty upset, okay?”

“The three of us, that was just for, like, an hour. We _just_ showed up here with Bobby,” Luke looked at the other three with his eyes wide in confusion.

“Look, I’m just telling you what my phone says,” Julie put her phone out so the four could see it. “See? Three of you died in 1995, when you were 17. Bobby disappeared after. It’s now 2020, and there’s nothing else about what happened to Bobby.”

Reggie looked over at Bobby, his eyes wide and filled with concern. “What the hell happened to you, Bobbers?” he whispered

“Wait, so, so, it has been twenty-five years?” Alex started. “I have been crying for twenty-five years? _How is this possible_?!”

There was a ringing in Bobby’s ears. Twenty-three years, gone. The album was supposed to come out in two months: the album that he hadn’t yet figured out how to credit Sunset Curve for. How do you write a dedication to the people that had made you _you_? When the two-year anniversary of their deaths were coming up and even remotely trying to think about what they actually meant to you as people, not just musicians, hurt worse than anything you could imagine. 

Bobby’s mind was caught up with every possible thing that he could have missed in the last twenty-three years. He thinks a boy came into the room and talked to the girl, and he thinks she kicked them out.

“-didn’t get your name,” Luke asked. Oh, right, he was still calling her ‘the girl’ in his head.

“It’s Julie,” she responded.

“Cool, I’m Luke,” he stepped towards Julie who thrusted out the cross that was surprisingly still in her hand. “By the, by the way. An-and this is – “

“Reggie, I’m Reggie.”

“Alex, How’s it goin’?”

Reggie lightly elbowed Bobby in the ribs. “Trev- er, Bobby, hi,” he gave a little wave. Reggie, Alex, and Luke’s head snapped over to look at him.

“Okay.” Julie walked out of the studio.

“Trevor? What’s up with that?” Reggie asked.

“Yeah, and what the fuck is going on, Bobby? She’s gone, it’s later, you wanna tell us what you’ve clearly been meaning to? Starting with maybe explaining why you look really different.” Luke said.

Bobby tugged his hand out of Reggie’s. “I can’t – I can’t do this right now. Just – just gimme five minutes. Five minutes, and I’ll explain stuff, please.” He gave them a shaky smile poofed himself out of the studio with no destination in mind other than _not here_. This time he landed on the beach, a few blocks down from the Peters’ house. 

Bobby ran through the sand and collapsed a few feet away from the water. He tried to shove his fingers into the sand to grab something to hold onto, but his hands just went through it. He pulled his hands back up towards his chest, and slowly moved them down. _C’mon Bobby, just focus_. His hands went through the sand, again, and he let out a sob. He slammed his hands down and this time they didn’t go through the sand, but when Bobby tried to grab some of the sand, it just went through his hand.

“Damnit! Fuck! _Fuck!_ Damnit!” He cried. He pulled his knees up to his chest and sobbed into them. He cried for the deaths of the boys, the grief and anguish that had been stuck in his chest for nearly two years. And he cried for himself, for losing twenty-three years of time in that dark room, for dying in a car crash because he couldn’t deal with listening to his own song.

“ _Bobby?_ ”

“ _Bobbers?_ ”

“ _Robert Wilson!_ ”

Of course they couldn’t leave him alone. How could they? When the only thing Bobby wanted for the last two years was to not be alone anymore. When the only thing he could think about was how much he had missed them.

“Bobby, _thank fuck_. You’ve been gone for nearly a half hour, dude,” Luke slid in front of him. “Hey, hey, hey, can you look at me real quick?”

Bobby shook his head as he continued to cry. His breath caught in his throat when he tried to inhale.

“Bobby, _sweetheart_ , shit. Fuck. Okay. You need to calm down, just a bit, so you can breathe, okay hon? Just follow us breathing okay?” Reggie grabbed his hand and placed it against Luke’s chest. “C’mon, in, 2, 3, 4. Out, 2, 3, 4,” Luke exaggerated the movement of his chest. Alex, because who else could it be, tapped a beat out on Bobby’s leg in time with Reggie’s counting. 

Bobby slowly regained the ability to follow Reggie’s counts. He slumped over into Alex as tears continued to steadily make way down his face. Alex combed his hand through Bobby’s hair.

“You wanna tell us what’s goin’ on, Bobby?”

“Not really, but I don’t think I have much of a choice anymore.”

Alex huffed out a breath. “You’ve got me there. How ‘bout we ask you some questions, and all you have to do is just answer those questions? If you can’t just let us know. Sound okay?”

Bobby nodded. Luke grabbed the hand that was still close to his chest. “You’re lucky,” Bobby nodded at the hands, “if I didn’t miss you so much, that hand’d be gone,” he laughed and used his other hand to wipe the last of the tears off of his face.

Luke laughed. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Okay, first question, were you in the dark room with us?”

“Yeah.”

“When did you get there?”

“The year? Ninety-seven. I think I joined you boys a little before Reggie joked about breathing when you’re dead? I dunno.”

Luke’s hand tightened around Bobby’s. “You mean to tell me that you were with us for pretty much the entire time? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Honestly, I was pretty sure that I was just in a coma or something. I just wanted to be able to keep listening to you three just talk about whatever. It was a nice change,” he let out a shaky breath.

“Coma?” Alex asked.

“Nice change?” Reggie added.

“Car accident. Thought, since I couldn’t move, that I had just been sedated or somethin’ and that’s why I couldn’t move. And, yeah, instead of the usual nightmares when you yell at me,” Bobby paused. “I shouldn’t have said that. Ignore me.”

“When we yell at you? Bobby, why would we yell at you?” Luke put his hand on Bobby’s knee.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it does, Bobby.”

“Because it was my fuckin’ fault!” Bobby yelled. He sat up and yanked his hand from Luke’s. “You were – you were dead, and it was _all my fault_. I should’ve figured something was wrong sooner, I should’ve gotten there quicker. But it was _Rose_ who noticed the sirens. I was too interested in talking to her and her band instead of focusing on the fact that you were late, and you guys were – are – _never_ late, especially not before a gig.” He spoke faster as the words he never got to say, the memories he had avoided for so long tumbling out of his mouth. “ _Shit_ Luke, I had to watch you seize for a whole minute, and all three of you vomiting blood and sobbing because it hurt, and then they wouldn’t let me in the ambulance with you, so I just had to follow in the van, and then you were all dead in the ambulance, and I _wasn’t_ there,” he curled back into himself. “I wasn’t there.”

The four sat in silence for a while. “Bobby,” Reggie started and then paused. “Babe, look at me,” he placed his hand on the bottom of Bobby’s chin and tilted his head up. His eyes were shiny with his own unshed tears. “We would never, _never_ blame you for what happened to us. That was our own damn fault for eating hot dogs out of the hood of a shitty-ass car.”

“But if I had just been there sooner, then maybe – “

“Thinking about the what ifs and maybes doesn’t help anyone, Bobby,” Alex interrupted. “Do you know how many times you’ve told me that?”

“And it doesn’t even matter now because we’re here together,” Luke smiled and took Bobby’s hand in his again. “It may have taken you an extra two years to get to us, but we’re all here.”

Bobby let out a sad laugh. “Two hellish years. But hey, I’m finally the oldest.”

“Well…” Alex stretched out the word and spoke in his falsetto. “I was still born first, so I’m still the oldest.”

“You get to be the tallest, just let me have this one thing, Alex.”

“Hey, what do I get?” Luke raised his voice.

“You get to be our first kiss, Luke,” the other three responded in unison. They all paused, looking at each other before dissolving into soft laughter.

Bobby leaned on Reggie and kissed his cheek. “I missed this. I missed us.”

Reggie kissed his forehead. “I know sweetheart, and I’m so sorry you had to go through this shit alone.”

“Hey, lovebirds, how about one more question, hmm? The fuck is this mess that’s on your face?” Luke poked Bobby’s face, and he batted the singer’s hand away.

“It’s a fuckin’ beard, Luke, I know you know what they are.”

“But it looks so _wrong_ on you.”

“I think it’s kinda hot,” Reggie announced. “You look good with stubble, Babers.”

“You’ve heard it here, boys. My guy says I look hot, this stubble’s not goin’ anywhere.”

“You say that, but Alex and I are gonna pin you down and shave it off when Reggie’s not looking”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try us.”

“You’d make Reggie sad, so you wouldn’t.”

Luke paused. “Fair enough.” Then, with the absolute grace that was Luke deciding that he was done talking about something, he stood up and turned around. “C’mon, let’s go back to the studio.”

“Didn’t she kick us out?”

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. And anyways, it’s our stuff in the studio. I think we have a right to see what’s come of it,” Luke offered a hand to Alex. “Bobby, was the house still yours before, ya know?”

“Yeah, it was still mine. What, you think in the past two years I managed to be able to clean out the whole house? We were fuckin’ packrats, and I didn’t want to go through all that stuff.”

“You’re right, you’re right. C’mon, I wanna check on my guitar, make sure she’s been loved appropriately since we’ve been gone.”


	2. explanations and accusations (just let me talk)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Actual conversations, some revelations, an accusation, and wow, the boys are stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! Uh, as I started to write chapter 3, I realized this fic is going to be long, and each chapter will get longer. I should have chapter 3 out by Sunday at the latest.
> 
> There's a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of this chapter, and so if you don't like those, stop at the section that starts with "If it weren’t for the fact that it would have upset Alex"

“Bobbers?” Reggie asked. He was sprawled across the couch with Bobby half on top of him and half on the couch itself. Luke was off at his parents – not that he knew the other three knew that fact – and Alex had left a few moments prior after giving Reggie a pointed look.

“Yes, Regley?” Bobby responded, lifting his head up to look his boyfriend in the eye.

“We should probably talk about what was up with you the past two years,” Reggie ran his hand through his hair.

Bobby tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean? Us four had our heart to heart already. I think I’ve told you everything important.”

“Sweetheart,” he smiled sadly, “I meant more on the whole _us and our relationship_ thing. It’s been two years for you, and I know you said you were still working through things, but that’s still two years of no _me_ ,” Reggie looked away from Bobby. “And now I’m younger than you, and you’re not the same person – I still love you, but you basically changed yourself over the span of an hour for me – so I don’t know if you even want me and love me the way you did in ’95. And Alex said I should talk to you because communication and shit, but also, I don’t want to break up with you or make you think that we should break up. But something’s different now and we really should talk about it, and oh, fuck, you need to stop me because – “

“Reg, beeboo, hey,” Bobby placed his hands on both sides of Reggie’s increasingly red face and gave him a soft smile. “I love you. I love you so much. Reg, you were – are – it for me. Those two years were the worst of my life because I missed you. And the other two dumbasses,” he added as an afterthought with a smirk and tilt of his head. Reggie let out a slight giggle. “And yeah, communication and shit is good, dorko. Sure, you’re a year younger than me now rather than me being younger than you, but that doesn’t bother me too much..?” Bobby shrugged. “And I know I’ve changed a bit, and those’re some things that we’ll need to work on together, okay? We’ll take things slow again, do some check-ins and stuff, whatever you need beeboo. It’ll be like we’re going on our first dates again, adjusting to the new dynamic. I _love_ you, and us re-figuring this shit out isn’t going to change that fact.”

Reggie gave Bobby his _stop trying to make me cry_ smile before launching himself into Bobby’s chest. “Oof,” Bobby groaned. “What’s this all about?”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you,” Reggie mumbled into Bobby’s shirt.

“You didn’t have to do anything, you dork,” He kissed Reggie’s forehead. “You’re you, and that’s all that has ever mattered to me.”

=====================

They had a band again! _They had a band again_! They were able to be seen by other people when they played music _,_ Julie performed in front of everyone and got her spot back in the music program, and now they were a band. The five musicians had just spent the last five hours workshopping some of their incomplete songs, adding in piano parts, and writing arrangements with Julie’s poems and lyrics.

“Boys, Julie has such amazing songs.” Luke sat himself onto the couch after Julie left. The four ghosts were tangled up on the couch in the studio. Once Luke adjusted how he was sitting, Alex was leaning against Luke with his feet hanging over the armrest, and Bobby was sitting sideways and curled up on Reggie’s lap with his feet on Luke’s lap.

“I think you may be a little biased, but yeah, they were smokin.’” Bobby leaned forward and poked Luke’s cheek.

“What do you mean? She has killer lyrics, why would I be biased?”

“We have eyes, Luke.” Reggie cut in.

“Plus, you gave her _Bright_.” Alex added.

“After a day of knowing her!” Bobby finished the sentence. “We were still workshopping it before the Orpheum, and you all but threw it at her to add her own spin on it.” Bobby smirked. “You wouldn’t even let Sherry Edwards come to practices after six months of dating”

“Sherry didn’t know anything about music. Julie gets it.”

“ _Julie gets it_.” Reggie mocked. Luke pouted before turning to poke Alex’s forehead.

“You’ve gotta look at the song right now so we can start rehearsing it with the whole band when Julie gets back,” he said excitedly.

Reggie whispered into Bobby’s ear. “I’ll bet you movie night rights for a week that Luke figures out his fucking crush on her before the end of the month.”

That was less than two weeks away, and Luke figuring out any of his crushes always took him at least two months. “Easy, you’re on.”

“Okay, Luke, but can you settle down?” Alex asked. “Julie left two minutes ago, and family dinners take her an hour. I’ll look at the song in a bit. Just sit and chill with us, okay? When was the last time all four of us were able to chill?”

“Uh, 8 weeks and five days before the Orpheum gig,” Reggie answered.

Alex laughed. “How do you remember things like this, Reg?”

“I dunno, dates just work in my head.”

“So it’s been a while, and even longer for Bobby, so let’s take a quick break from music, Luke,” Alex said kindly. “You can still write, but just, you know, chill.”

Luke groaned but pulled his notebook towards him. They sat in silence for a moment, basking in one another’s presence

“Robert?” Reggie started, his hand playing in Bobby’s hair.

“Yes, my dear Reginald?”

“What would’ve happened to the house after you died? Like, how the fuck is all of our stuff still here?”

“Everything I owned went to… _Rose_ , damnit,” He sat up properly, everything clicking in his brain. “That’s why she’s so familiar.”

“The girl from the Orpheum?”

“Orpheum Rose?”

“Who’s the _she_?” The three boys’ voices overlapped. Alex had somehow managed to turn his whole body around to look at Bobby.

“Yes, that Rose. A size beautiful if I recall.” Bobby smirked up at Reggie who bopped him on the nose.

“Fuck off.”

“And the _she_ is Julie. Rose owned the house this whole time, and Julie is her daughter. And Julie’s mom died, which means, _shit_ , mean’s Rose’s dead.” Bobby twisted himself off the couch and began to pace back and forth in front of it. “Fuck, _Ray_! Julie’s dad is Ray, Rose’s boyfriend. _Shit_ , I should’ve figured this out earlier.”

Reggie made grabby hands at Bobby, who shook his head and continued pacing. Reggie huffed, “Light of my life, you just went through a shit-ton of trauma, and when we all first met Julie, none of us thought that we were in the future. So of-fucking-course it took you a while to realize it.”

“Wait,” Luke interrupted. “I flirted with Julie’s mom?”

“Yeah, fuckwad, you did,” Reggie laughed.

“You did too, fuck off,” Luke shot back.

“Ah, but you see my dear Lucas –“

“That’s not my fuckin’ name.”

“ – I am in a committed relationship, and my sweet Boberly was right in front of me, and so it does not count.”

“Doesn’t count? That’s fuckin bull. Just wait until I tell Julie – _shit,_ do we tell her?”

“Secrets don’t make friends, and friends don’t keep secrets,” Alex sang and leaned himself back so his head was on Reggie’s lap and his torso on Luke’s.

“I’m sorry, but did you two switch bodies when we weren’t looking?” Luke glanced between Alex and Bobby. He pointed at Bobby, “You’re on the runway, and you’re,” he poked Alex in the stomach, “giving us some sage wisdom.”

“I can have the braincell, that’s something I can do,” Alex protested.

Bobby stopped pacing and turned to Alex. “What in the name of all that is good and holy is this braincell?” he asked.

“No idea,” Alex beamed and shrugged his shoulders. “Willie just said that when you aren’t being the stupid one, you can have a braincell.”

“So I clearly own the braincell, then,” Bobby declared.

“Hey!” Luke interjected

“Do you think I know anything about this, Bobby?” Alex asked, the three boys ignoring Luke.

“You were the one that brought it up!” Bobby shot back.

“And I said what I knew about it!”

Reggie grabbed Bobby’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Babe, who cares right now? We can ask Julie later.”

“How the hell am I supposed to tell her about her mom, though?” Bobby started pacing again. “Do I just say, ‘Hey, Julie, by the way, I knew your mom. Really sucks that she died, too.’”

“And you’re back on the runway again!” Luke threw up his hands. “Take a chill pill, dude. You don’t gotta overthink stuff.”

“When the only three people you care about die together and you aren’t around to save them, you start to overthink shit, Luke,” he winced.

The other three’s eyes widened, but then Alex looked as though he had figured something out and turned and pointed to Bobby. “Oh! A valid mood!”

“What the absolute fuck, Alex?”

=====================

Bobby poofed back to the studio after checking up on his family – and the Peterses, but he wouldn’t tell Reggie that. The Wilsons were good; it looked like his sister had gotten married to her best friend from middle school, and their kid was in the same grade as Carlos. 

Bobby hadn’t been all that close to his sister. He had been too worried about high school and the band, and then his own career, that he just hadn’t had the time to actually talk to Caroline to get to know her enough to have a relationship with her. Maybe in another world, where he didn’t die in ’97, he could’ve gotten closer to her, but like he had told Alex, going through the _what ifs_ and _maybes_ were useless.

“Oh, that’s why he’s so familiar,” he heard Julie say. He looked up and saw she had turned around her laptop to the boys. “My mom had a couple of pictures of him in her photo box, but she just said he was a singer.”

“Your mom had pictures of who?” The guys were all crowded around Julie’s computer, so Bobby poofed over. “Oh, _shit_ , me? Rose kept pictures of me?”

Julie looked up at him. “You knew my mom?”

“Yeah. Technically we all did. She was working the Orpheum the night of the Sunset Curve Showcase, but I got to know her during the after. That guitar right there,” he pointed to the one Luke had noticed their first night, “was mine. I loaned it to her a couple days before I died. Sorta surprised she kept it all this time.”

“You knew my mom, and you _didn’t_ tell me?” She asked.

Bobby put his hands up to try and mollify Julie. “I realized that she was your mom the other night, Julie. We were trying to figure out what the best way was to tell you.”

“You took our songs and rebranded?” Alex interrupted.

“Well I couldn’t do music if I was _Bobby Wilson_ , the lone survivor of Sunset Curve. That’s all fuckin’ Tommy could talk about, at least. And the fuck do you mean took the songs? Took the songs from who?”

“Took the songs from us,” Luke glared at him. 

Bobby gave him a slow blink and tilted his head to the side. “You were _dead_. And all we had ever talked about was how important getting our music out there was.”

“You said you told us everything important, Bobbers,” Reggie said softly.

Bobby stopped and looked down at his feet. “I told you guys that I had started doing music again before I died.”

“And you didn’t think it was important to tell us that you made an album? That’s a big thing, Bee,” Reggie took a soft step forward.

“So you _stole_ our songs and decided not to mention it?” Luke angrily gestured at Bobby.

Bobby took a step towards Luke and away from Reggie. “Yeah, _our_ songs, Luke, not yours, not just mine, but ours.” Bobby’s voice grew louder. _What the fuck was Luke not getting?_

“And you stole them.”

“Once you died the songs were mine. Their ownership had been transferred to me since I was the only creator left. Obviously if I had known that us four would have been together now, I wouldn’t have recorded and written some of the songs, but, you know, hindsight and the year 2020,” Reggie smiled at the joke. _Good_ , at least someone wasn’t taking this obnoxiously seriously. “I was dead when the album came out! I didn’t even get to approve the fuckin’ album art.”

“You still recorded the songs; songs that meant something to us.”

“I know that! You think I didn’t know that _Crooked Teeth_ was about Reggie? Or _Long Weekend_ was for Alex? Or _Get Lost_ was for me? You think I didn’t know those songs so intimately that I dreamt about them before I even got into the booth because I couldn’t stop thinking about you all? You were dead!” He shouted. Bobby took in a shaky breath, looked up at the ceiling, and whispered, “You were dead, and I thought that I would have to go through the rest of my existence without ever being able to talk to you again.”

“Bobby,” Luke started.

“You know what I had been thinking about before I died? How the fuck I was gonna write the dedication to you three for everything when if I even mentioned Sunset Curve, specifically, Tommy would be on my ass. So yeah, maybe you should let me give you the fuckin’ answers before you decide to jump the gun and start throwin’ around accusations.”

“Bobby,” Alex paused, “we’re sorry. We should’ve asked.”

“You’re right, you should’ve. And I know that this opens up another can of worms that we should’ve talked about, but I didn’t even think about the fact that there would still be an album. And I will talk about it, but honestly, Luke, I can’t deal with ya right now. Plus, I gotta figure out what’s even on the damn album, so I’ll be back later.”

“What about the gig?” Luke asked.

“We have a gig?” He repeated back slowly.

“Yeah, Flynn got us a gig at the school dance tonight.”

“ _Tonight_?” he shook his head. “Julie, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be able to make it. You four rehearse without me.”

“But you’re part of the –“ Julie started.

“I know that, Julie, I promise,” He gave her a soft look. If he was corporeal, he would have walked over and grabbed her hands. “But if I don’t figure out who the fuck Trevor Wilson got turned into, I might go crazy, and I’d be useless tonight even if I did stay and practice. So, I’m gonna go find the album – the actual CD; I know I can listen to the songs on the Music Apple or whatever, but I need to see the actual thing – and I’ll be back later, okay?”

Julie nodded her head, so Bobby poofed himself out to Monty’s Records. Monty’s was the record store Sunset Curve had frequented over the years, but it turned out to have been renovated into an office building, and so he poofed himself again to the public library.

Walking inside, it was comforting to see that a lot of the sections hadn’t moved in the last twenty-three years. He walked over to the “W’s” in the CDs section, poked his head around the corners to make sure no one was around, and flipped through the different cases until he found his own: _Legends at Dusk_. It was the closest way he could credit Sunset Curve in the title.

The cover of the album was a generic shot of the LA skyline at night with his own handwriting in a pale purple to blue gradient as the title. The back cover had a list of songs: _My Name is Luke, Crooked Teeth, Get Lost, A New Dawn_ , and then a few other of his originals. It also had a couple of his drafts, like _Blue Days Ahead_ , and _All of the Fuss_.

“Shit,” he swore under his breath. _All of the Fuss_ was the song he had written for the boys and had recorded on his cassette tape with Rose in his apartment. He didn’t even think Tommy knew about the song, but then again, someone had to go through his stuff – probably Rose – and he wouldn’t have been surprised if she had given the cassette to Tommy.

The insert just said _Trevor Wilson_ with his date of birth and date of death. No album dedication, no biography, nothing.

“Cool, that answers nothing,” he said to himself. He flipped to the last page for all of the credits. And right there, for all of those Sunset Curve songs were the names Luke Patterson, Reggie Peters, and Alex Mercer; _All the Fuss_ had Rose credited too. Bobby tilted his head back and let out a hysterical giggle. Maybe the fact that he was another “Hollywood Tragedy” meant that Tommy was okay capitalizing on the fact that he had been a part of another tragedy. 

Satisfied with his newfound knowledge (and something to yell at Luke about; he knew he wasn’t going to let that go for a couple years at least), Bobby put everything back in the case. He kept the CD on him to show Julie and the boys and poofed to the front steps to avoid setting off the alarms (and to avoid anyone noticing the CD randomly floating). He could’ve poofed back entirely to the studio, for sure, but he wanted time to breathe and calm himself down before dealing with Luke.

He got it, he did. If Luke had just been out of commission for a bit and Bobby had recorded the songs, this would have been an entirely different situation. But how was Bobby to know that magically the four boys would be reunited and able to still make music in this world? And yeah, he probably should have told them. He would have wanted to know if it was someone else. But telling the guys about the album would have meant baring his soul to the boys. With Luke and Alex especially, he’d be sharing parts of himself that he hadn’t shown anyone, ever. Not even Reggie knew everything about the two years of loneliness, and grief, and unhealthy coping. Really, Reggie was the whole reason Bobby knew how to do the whole soft and sweet thing. Transitioning from being best friends for ten years to actually being in a relationship meant that he and Reggie had to talk a lot about what their relationship was going to be.

Walking home from the library had always Bobby the opportunity to think about life. The boys normally wanted to drive places, but sometimes a good walk was what he needed. Every time Bobby had walked through LA since dying had made him more and more nostalgic. So many of the buildings that were there in ’97 were just gone or turned into something entirely different. And yet, walking into the neighborhood he grew up in still felt like home. It definitely helped that things had been changing in the two years that Bobby had avoided the studio, but most of the houses were still there, and there weren’t too many remodels or new developments in the area.

Bobby walked into the studio to Julie curled on the couch with her laptop playing some sort of show on the Netflix.

“Hey Julie,” he plopped himself down next to her.

She paused the video. “Hi Bobby. Find what you needed?”

“I did. Look at this,” He pulled the CD out of his jacket and then the insert out of the case. He flipped to the credits and put his finger under _All the Fuss_. “Your mom’s credited on this album,” and then pointed to _My Name is Luke_ , “and so are the boys. Speaking of, where are they?”

“They said they had to go do something to make things up for you, so it’s just us until they get back.”

“Well that works fine for me, ‘cause I think I owe you a few stories about Rose.”

=====================

“You know, Regime, I think you’ve won the bet,” Bobby declared. The two boys were lounging on the sofa in the Molina’s living room. Bobby was half-leaning on Reggie as the bassist scrolled through the movie options on Julie’s laptop. Fortunately Ray and Carlos were out of the house, otherwise the two would need to share the studio with Luke and Alex or force them out.

“And which of our bets are you talking about here, Bobboo?” Reggie glanced at him from the corner of his eye.

“Luke actually figured out his crush on Julie. Though I could make the case that you pushin’ him into admitting that he _oozes_ chemistry with her was a bit of cheating.”

“All’s fair in love and war, sweetheart,” Reggie turned and bopped him on the nose.

“Fuck off, babe.”

“And so,” Reggie started loudly, “I do believe that my first demand for movie night is _Empire Strikes Back_.”

“You mean to tell me that you don’t want to watch literally any movie that came out since we died?”

“It’s a classic and you took the shit bet.”

“That’s a fuckin’ lie. Luke behaved in a way that I could not have hypothesized knowing his prior behavior.”

“But! He never met someone like Julie.”

Bobby groaned. “You’re right, I know, but it’s Luke ‘I play music and sing about my feelings instead of actually talking about things’ Patterson.”

“And it’s Julie ‘I know what these songs mean because I do the same thing’ Molina. I don’t know what you expected, Bobert. Now, shush and let me enjoy the movie.”

Reggie brought the movie up on Julie’s laptop, pressed play, and leaned back on Bobby. Bobby leaned himself back so he was almost laying on the couch with Reggie laying entirely on top of him. The 20th Century Fox logo popped up on the screen, and Bobby prepared himself for two hours of Reggie quoting the movie back to him.

They had barely gotten to Luke Skywalker meeting Yoda when Reggie yawned. “God, I love you.”

“I know,” Bobby said with a smirk.

Reggie gasped and turned his head to look up at Bobby. “We’re not even there yet, Bob-butt, you can’t do that,” he pouted.

“I did it, and you will just have to deal,” Bobby patted Reggie’s cheek.

“You’re an assho—“ Reggie was cut off by something that looked like actual sparks coming out of his chest. He rolled off of Bobby and onto the floor with a cry.

“What in the ever-loving fuck was that?” Bobby demanded, then shook his head. “Wait, shit, are you okay?”

“Yeah, shit, I’m fine, I think. Fuck, that hurt worse than last time.”

Bobby pulled Reggie from the floor and onto his lap and wrapped his arms around the bassist. “Last time? How long?”

“What?”

“How long has this been going on?”

“You know the night of the school dance, when us three didn’t show up for Julie because we went to find a way to apologize to you? We went to this place, the Hollywood Ghost Club, because Willie said that Caleb, his boss and the guy in charge, would be able to make us visible to lifers. We wanted to help you talk to Tommy, yell at him about the songs or somethin.’”

“Reg, darlin’, don’t tell me you went on an idiotic mission just for me.”

“He offered us, and you, a spot in his band,” Reggie continued as though he hadn’t heard anything Bobby said, “where’d we be able to perform in front of people every night. We said no since we have Julie, but he stamped us and said it was just a way for us to get back to the club. The stamps are what are causing the jolts, and if we don’t join Caleb, we’ll just cease to exist.”

“Then let’s go fuckin’ join, Caleb,” Bobby shifted Reggie so he could stand up. “Who cares about Julie right now, if you’re gonna cease to exist otherwise, won’t it be better to go with him?”

“Bobby, love,” Reggie grabbed his hand, “we’ve got another option. We could cross over, all four of us. Willie thinks that since all four of us died before performing at the Orpheum, if we did perform there, we could.”

“And do we have a plan?”

“We’re working on it,” Reggie stood up. “C’mon, you might have some ideas we haven’t thought of yet.”

Reggie tapped the spacebar to stop the movie, and the two poofed down to the studio where, fortunately for Bobby but unfortunately for them, Luke and Alex were sitting.

“You absolute fuckin’ dumbasses,” Bobby said. Alex startled and looked up at him. “I can’t fuckin’ believe that you would try to find a way for me to get back at fuckin’ Tommy,” He picked up the pencils on the table and threw them at the two boys

“Hey! It was all Reggie’s idea,” Luke pointed out while attempting to bat away the pencils that just flew through him.

“Yeah, I gathered that pretty quickly, but you two went along with it all, anyways, so you’re all fuckin’ dumbasses,” he plopped onto the floor. “So, what do you got for a plan?”

=====================

If it weren’t for the fact that it would have upset Alex, and in turn Reggie, Bobby would’ve kissed Willie for pulling off driving a bus for two hours as a ghost. Bobby had absolutely no fucking idea how the hell he transported a bus away from Vegas, but at this point it didn’t even matter. All that mattered was getting his boys to cross over. 

Bobby couldn’t care less about whether he crossed over, just as long as he didn’t have to watch his boys die and suffer again. He could live without them – he had been planning on that for the last two years – but he did not need any more material for his nightmares. And sure, it was totally likely that performing at the Orpheum was his unfinished business, but all Bobby could care about was his boys.

He felt so terrible about leaving Julie here, alone. She didn’t deserve this, didn’t deserve to have to suffer because he had fucked up and not told the boys about the album, or done any sort of research to see if the album existed. If he had just thought things through and thought critically, then the boys would be fine, Julie wouldn’t be preparing to lose the four of them, and the band could continue making music.

It also really sucked for Luke and Alex. They’d finally found people who completed them the way Reg completed him, and now they were getting torn apart because Bobby couldn’t fucking communicate with his boys. Though, it looked at least that Luke and Julie were taking the time to say goodbye.

They had their band circle, wished Julie a safe drive to the Orpheum, and Carlos had let them know that he knew of their existence. Unwilling to join in on teasing Reggie about spooking Tia Victoria, Bobby started to wander over to the loft to grab their outfits for the night.

“It doesn’t matter, you guys,” Luke said softly. “We’re not coming back here anyways.”

Bobby heard a poof behind him. Was Willie actually back?

“And where is it that you think you’re going?” An unfamiliar voice said. Bobby turned himself around. The man was sat on Julie’s piano with a suit and top hat. It could only be Caleb Covington.

Bobby poofed himself in front of the boys. “Stay the fuck away from them.”

“Ahh, Trevor Wilson—”

“That’s not my name.”

“—I was wondering when I’d finally get the pleasure of meeting you.”

“Well congrats, you’ve met me, now go away.”

“Such hostility. I’m just here to congratulate you on your big night,” he chuckled. “Not everyone gets to play the Orpheum.”

“No, okay,” Luke interrupted, stepping forward so he was shoulder to shoulder with Bobby, “we know that it’s your stamp that’s hurting us.”

Caleb hummed.

“We already told you,” Luke continued, “we have a band. We don’t wanna join your little club.”

“Yeah, and you can’t make us either!” Alex stepped forward on Bobby’s other side. Caleb gave him a look, and Alex cleared his throat before adding, “Sir.”

“Get out, Caleb,” Bobby demanded. “I won’t say it again.” He took another step forward, determined to be the first line of defense for his boys. He felt rather than saw Reggie’s fear of the man, and Bobby refused to let any person make Reg feel like that.

“Right!” Caleb continued, seemingly ignoring Bobby. “You’re crossing over tonight. So exciting! Funny thing about the crossover: no one really knows what’s waiting on the other side,” he paused. “But I know what’s happening on this side.” Caleb blew a kiss towards all four boys. Bobby stumbled backwards and fell while Luke, Reggie, and Alex all poofed out.

Bobby shook his head from left to right, expecting to see the boys poof back to next to him, or at least to the studio. When they didn’t return after a few seconds, he stood up quickly, prepared for a fight. “Bring them the fuck back here.”

Caleb hopped off of the piano and slowly strolled over to Bobby. “No actually, I think I’ll take you to them,” He grabbed Bobby’s hand and before Bobby could yank himself away stamped his wrist. “Have a nice trip,” he smirked.

Bobby felt a tug in his gut that yanked him out of the studio. The only thought in his brain was how sorry he felt that Julie was going to have to go on stage without them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...oops. I don't know how this happened, it just sort of did.
> 
> Yell at me in the comments if you want to
> 
> tumblr - @itsthebooks


	3. trying to fix an unsolvable problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> things are out of control, panic, new things come to light, and then more crying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how this got this long, but it did, so...
> 
> Content Warnings for discussion of death, guilt, and trauma (that's been the entire fic, and JatP canon in general, but its amped up a bit now)  
> Note from 2/10, so it turns out that /Bobby & Rose wrote Stand Tall/ wasn't actually canon, but instead something I got from @bobby_sunsetswerve's "But I Think I'm Lost Without You" which you can find at https://archiveofourown.org/works/28853397

Being forced to poof somewhere was not a particularly pleasant experience, Bobby decided. And having his entire appearance change was even worse. He squirmed where he stood, the black jacket, silver vest, and disgustingly tight tie being the most constricting things he had worn in years.

The boys poofed in next to him. Bobby breathed out a sigh of relief at the sight of them and inspected each of their outfits. It looked like Caleb had managed to figure out their signature colors pretty easily, which Bobby reluctantly acknowledged in the back of his brain. All of their hair was awkwardly done, almost in a similar fashion to what the boys’ moms had done to their hair for school picture day.

Reggie glanced over at him before doing a double take. “He shaved your beard?!”

Bobby hastily patted his face to feel perfectly smooth skin and grimaced. “Fuckin’ asshole.”

A noise ahead of them drew Bobby’s attention, and Caleb walked down the stairs, looking enthusiastic at the fact that all four of them were backstage. “Well don’t you look nice,” he commented.

“Speak of the devil,” Bobby mumbled to himself.

“Sweet threads,” Reggie said. Luke glared at him, and Bobby was about ready to laugh at the fact that neither he nor his boyfriend could control their tongues when under pressure.

“Yeah, how’d you know our sizes?” Alex asked. Scratch that, apparently Luke, _Luke_ who was frequently flustered over the most random thing Julie would say or do, was the best at controlling himself in a crisis of life-or-death proportions.

Luke whipped his head over to look at Alex. “ _That’s_ your question?”

Caleb sighed. “I know you boys aren’t my biggest fans, and an eternity at my club might seem overwhelming. But, I just put you in sweet threads, so humor me this one last pitch.”

Bobby opened his mouth to say something, but Reggie grabbed his hand and shook his head slightly.

“Isn’t it nice that you’re all here together?” Caleb asked, looking at Reggie. He shifted his gaze to Bobby. “You won’t have to be alone, ever again. And believe me,” he pointed to Alex, “everything you want, including Willie, is here.” Caleb took a step forward and started to adjust Luke’s collar. “And on my stage, you don’t vanish when the music stops; you soak in the applause for as long as you want. The connection that you will feel with that audience will be like no other. I promise.”

The band on stage began to play. If he wasn’t stressed beyond all belief, he probably would have pulled Reggie to him to dance. “Oh! Shhh,” Caleb announced, “do you hear that? They’re waiting for you.”

A jolt ran through all four of them. Bobby nearly crumpled to the ground, the pain shooting through his side, knees, and head. Panic gripped him for a moment as well as he was taken back to car crash. He shook his head to rid himself of the memories. _How the hell did the boys deal with this without tellin’ me?_ he thought to himself.

“That one looked like it hurt,” Caleb commented as though he was merely commenting on the weather outside or the color of their suits, and not the fact that he was torturing them in hopes of getting them to join his fuckin’ house band. “Now, let me remind you, you don’t know if playing the Orpheum is your unfinished business. Do you really have time to make that mistake?” The band on stage grew louder. “Now, I suggest you accept my offer because the clock is ticking.”

Another jolt ran through Bobby’s body, the pain magnified tenfold. He actually fell to the ground this time. It felt as though he had been fixing his amp in the rain and the electricity was running through his entire body. This time, the memories of his death were at the front of his brain: the honk of the horn, the pain throughout his body, and the screaming of onlookers.

“Ouch,” Caleb stated. “You know where to find me.”

Bobby let out a whimper as the pain in his body subsided. He rubbed his side, trying to reassure himself that his body was whole and that he wasn’t at the crash anymore. His hands felt shaky, and his brain felt sort of foggy.

Reggie squatted down in front of Bobby. “Hey, hey, hey, you’re okay. Just breathe, okay? When did this happen?”

Bobby groaned. “Uh, two minutes ago? He stamped me after he poofed you three out.”

“I’m gonna kill him.” Reggie stated.

“Sweet thought, but you’re not gonna be able to, Reg. I tried that already, and it brought me here.” Bobby stood up, brushed himself off, and bounced up and down, trying to get feeling back into his legs. Maybe if he focused on something else, he would stop shaking. “These clothes are stupid.”

Caleb began to sing, and honestly the song was… _nice_? Definitely not something Sunset Curve or Julie and the Phantoms would ever play, but Bobby could feel that there was something there. He was itching to add some guitar.

Bobby paused his train of thought. _No,_ no, _big band stuff isn’t for me_. He had an appreciation for this sort of music, sure, but he had always dreaded any of the band performances that didn’t give him the opportunity to rock out.

Almost as though Caleb could feel him pulling away, the boys all took a step forward towards Caleb.

_You got nothin’ to lose, boys,_

_Lose, lose, lose_

The four started tapping their feet to the beat. Bobby felt the urge to start bouncing, which he knew wasn’t like him. He never really moved while listening to music. In fact, listening to music was one of the few ways he was able to stay still and stop fidgeting.

_You got nothin’ to lose, boys,_

_Lose, lose, lose_

It looked as though the other three were holding on and almost stopping themselves from moving, until Alex started to spin his drumstick between his fingers. He poofed out and appeared behind the drum set on stage.

“Alex!” Caleb said. “Show them what you’ve got!”

Alex’s face showed none of the joy or determination that it always did during gigs. It looked _wrong_.

Then Reggie pulled the neck of his bass up and poofed onto the stage.

“Reggie! Swing it baby.”

Bobby saw red. Reggie looked terrified on that stage, and nothing Caleb could do would ever make Bobby pleased to play for him. _You just gotta break out of this, Wilson, just focus on moving one step back_.

“Now Luke! Yeah!”

Luke was fighting it, even as he was drawn onto the stage, and Bobby kept trying to fight it too, but it felt like a losing battle.

Bobby felt a tug on his body. It was all of the sensations of one of the jolts without any of the pain. The control he had on his own body was virtually gone, and he felt himself poof onto the stage, a step below Caleb, but front and center.

“And ladies and gentlemen, back from his grave, it’s _Trevor Wilson_.”

Bobby’s hands weren’t connected to him. Well, they were in actuality, but they didn’t actually feel like it. He played the notes in an order he never had before, with no way to stop himself from doing it. And even if he wanted to play, he didn’t want to be the front man; that was never what he wanted. Let Luke and Reggie and Julie shine on stage, and let him Alex support them. It shouldn’t have been the other way around.

He glanced behind himself at Luke and Reggie, who looked as scared as Bobby felt. When he turned to look at Alex, his face was some strange combination of focused and blank, as though Alex had shut his emotions off. There was no joy in this performance, and no feeling of engagement with the audience. This was _Caleb_ ’s show, and everyone knew it.

Caleb continued to sing as Bobby’s fingers continued to find the frets on his guitar. He tried moving his feet, trying to somehow get closer to the boys or maybe even manage to get himself off stage and out of Caleb’s control.

Bobby was barely listening to the song as all of his playing was out of his control anyway. But by this point, it felt the song was nearly completed. He heard the big crescendo of a finale before the damn song finally ended.

The audience cheered, and Bobby felt his face warp into a smile. _Gross_.

“Thank you, thank you, and let’s give it up for our newest features in the band, huh?” Caleb announced, gesturing to the four boys.

Bobby felt himself give a quick wave to the audience and screamed internally.

“How about another song from them?” Caleb asked, gesturing to the rest of the band.

The new song started, but this time Bobby recognized it. Over the past week, Reggie had been humming the song while he wandered around the studio. But it was odd, there were almost two separate piano parts. Was there a dueling piano part to the song? That seemed out of character for Caleb to have when he clearly loved the attention.

_And it’s one, two, three, four times_

_That I’ll try for one more night_

Bobby’s eyes widened. Somehow, someway, he could hear Julie. He turned to look at Alex, who had the same look on his face with the beginnings of a grin starting to form. Reggie, too, looked relieved. Luke still looked distraught, but there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

_Light a fire in my eyes_

_I’m going out of my mind_

Bobby felt a slight tug. It didn’t feel like the yanking Caleb used, or even the tugs Bobby felt when he was poofing somewhere new. He saw a taut, translucent, gold string coming out of his chest going out of the building. _Julie_ was calling them.

_Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing_

_I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall_

The tugging sensation grew, and it felt like the times a younger Caroline would tug on Bobby’s shirt to get his attention so he would hug her. It felt like _love_. And it was stronger than Caleb’s tug by a landslide. Bobby gave Alex a nod as the two began to play the wrong – no, no, the _right_ – music. They started to play _Stand Tall_.

_Whatever happens, even when everything’s down_

_I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall_

Bobby looked at each of the boys and gave them a bright smile before following the tug and poofing to the Orpheum. It felt safer, almost as though he had been wrapped in a hug, when he poofed to Julie. The sadness that turned to confusion that turned to joy on her face was something that Bobby knew he would hold on to for eternity.

_I gotta keep on dreaming_

_‘Cause I gotta catch that feeling_

_Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing_

_I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall_

Alex poofed onto the stage, and a few bars later Reggie did, too. Julie’s smile grew, and Bobby was also incredibly relieved that the boys had managed to get themselves out of the club.

_Right now, I’m loving every minute_

_Hands down, can’t let myself forget it, no_

Julie was truly rocking this song. The audience was loving her. _But where the fuck was Luke_? He should have popped in sooner because there was no way Reg would have left without him. Bobby adjusted what he was playing to balance for the fact that there wasn’t another guitar. He knew this song front to back, back to front, and could repeat back what any of them were doing at any point in the song. But what he couldn’t say was why Luke wasn’t –

 _There!_ Luke poofed in before fizzling out. _Shit_ , what was going on? Bobby turned to look at the other two boys who looked fine at first glance, but he knew both of their faces so intimately that he knew they were absolutely terrified. Julie’s face had barely even reacted to Luke’s abrupt departure, but he saw her narrow her eyes slightly.

 _And again!_ Bobby could only stare at the spot Luke was supposed to be. The audience gasped as he fizzled in and out on stage, and Bobby just hoped that he could get back to them.

_I’m goin’ out of my mind!_

Bobby felt giddy. They were all together, able to perform, and away from Caleb. His boys were safe, and they would stay safe for the rest of eternity. He hopped up to the other side of platform Alex was on, mirroring Reggie. The three of them jammed out together before he and Reggie both jumped off of it on the beat.

It was exhilarating, playing for an audience this large. Sunset Curve had only rarely had the opportunity to play for an actual crowd. It just felt right. And the fact that he was able to help give Julie the opportunity to feel this joy, this energy made him feel better about crossing over. He played his heart out for the boys, of course, (how couldn’t he?) but he also played for Julie and to give her the best performing experience he could. He knew she would be able to succeed regardless, but their tardiness may have made things a bit difficult for future-Julie.

Reggie performed with Julie out on the catwalk and Bobby beamed. He looked over at Luke to see that they both were thrilled to see the two rocking out where they could be closer to the fans. For all that Luke talked about wanting a connection with the audience, it was really Reggie who interacted the most with the fans. His joy was contagious.

The two ran back to the main stage as Alex started his solo. Bobby joined in, harmonizing on the “stand tall”s with him

_Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing_

_I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall_

Reggie joined in, and Bobby harmonized on the first “stand tall,” and joined Alex and Luke on the last one.

_Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing_

_I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall_

_Stand tall! Stand tall!_

It was weird finishing this song. He and Rose had worked on it briefly a few weeks before he died, but they couldn’t come up with the second verse or the bridge and decided to come back to it later. It was fitting that Julie and Luke were able to finish the song, finish _his and Rose’s_ song.

Julie and Luke took each other down the catwalk, and he, Reggie, and Alex moved to joined them. Bobby crossed center stage to make sure he could be next to Reggie, wanting to be there, to hold his hand at the end. They finished the song together and basked in the applause.

There was another tugging at his gut. It wasn’t like any of the other tugs he had felt in the past month or so of being a ghost. Bobby smiled at the thought that they were going to cross over. Julie was going to be okay, and they were actually able to cross over. He and the boys bowed with Julie and he followed the tug.

To the studio? It looked exactly the same as they had left it many hours ago, but Bobby had always been aware of when he poofed himself back to the studio.

“Was that it?” Reggie asked. “Do you feel any different?”

A jolt ran through them all. Bobby let out a gasp as he stumbled over to the couch. It surprisingly didn’t hurt as much as before for him, but Alex, Luke, and Reggie had fallen to the ground this time.

Alex let out a harsh, breathless chuckle. “Think you spoke too soon, Reg,” he looked at the other two. “What the hell are we gonna do? Julie thinks we crossed over and that isn’t gonna happen.”

Luke sat up, “We stay here. It’s the only place we can go.”

“No, Julie’s going to come back here after the show,” Alex replied.

“She’ll go straight to bed,” Reggie argued. “She’s exhausted. Lex, Bobbers, you saw how stressed and tired she looked when we showed up. And you two were there a bit before me.”

“No,” Bobby interrupted and looked at them all with disbelief. “No, you’re not giving up like this. I can’t let you do this.”

“Bobby, there’s nothing else we can do,” Alex sighed.

“We can go back to Caleb, make some sort of bullshit explanation about how we’re reliable musicians and we had a duty to perform with Julie when she was counting on us,” Bobby pleaded.

“That’s not gonna work,” Luke shot back. “When I left, he was pissed, Bobby. If I hadn’t started to pull away when I did, I don’t know if I would have made it to the Orph –“

He was cut off by another jolt. Reggie and Alex let out a whimper, but Bobby was fine – he didn’t get jolted this time. Clearly, he was on a different timeline than the boys, which meant…

“No,” he started, shaking his head frantically as he connected the dots in his brain. “No, you’re not leaving me. Don’t make me watch you die again. You can’t do this to me. Don’t make me wait for the confirmation that you’re gone, not again,” his voice cracked at the end of the sentence. There was heat behind his eyes and a lump in his throat. “You can’t leave me.”

Reggie grabbed Bobby’s hand and tugged him down to the ground. He placed his hands on Bobby’s cheeks, wiping away the tears that were steadily falling. “Oh Bobby, _sweetheart_ , I’m so sorry.”

“We have to go back,” Bobby cried.

“Darling, there’s no way we can go back there. Luke and I all but outright told Caleb to go fuck himself. Just,” he let out a shaky breath, “just stay here, and we can say our goodbyes, and I’ll hold you close, and then,” he paused and scrunched his face up, “and then Julie will come back, and you two can figure out how you’re gonna cross over, okay?”

Bobby pulled himself away from Reggie. He looked at the other two. Alex looked like he was fighting so hard not to cry in front of them; whereas, Luke was freely letting the tears fall down his face. There had to be some way that Bobby could fix this.

“I love you three so much. You hear me?” he asked. He looked at his three boys, the most important people in his life and death. “I love you so much it feels like my heart is going to burst out of my chest. I love how even though I changed you were still there for me, and how much you love music and each other, and how you make me laugh and feel whole again. I’m not losing this, I’m not.” Bobby paused for a moment.

He was pretty sure he understood Caleb. The man was greedy for power and talent, and he clearly liked _Trevor Wilson_. Bobby always knew he would sell his soul to the devil for the boys’ happiness, and in his interactions with the man, Bobby was certain Caleb was some sort of demon. Maybe, maybe Bobby could exchange himself for the boys. One willing musician who would write songs and perform with enthusiasm had to be better than four who were coerced into performing and wanted nothing to do with the man, right?

“I’m gonna fix this,” he said, nodding his head as he tried to convince himself that this was a good plan. “You three just need to stay put and stay here. Got it?” He stood up.

“Bobby, _no, no, no,_ you need to stay _here_ ,” Alex demanded. “You’ve got that look in your eye that you always got when you were about to go fight someone for us. You’re not doin’ that, got it? _You need to stay here_.”

“I’ll be fine, Alex,” Bobby gave an almost hysterical smile. “As long as you three are safe and not dead-dead, I’ll be fine. Just, just stay put.”

 _I have to fix this_ , he thought as he walked out of the studio.

“Bobby! Get back here,” he heard the three stumble as they tried to get up to follow him, but he ignored them, attempting to poof himself to the Hollywood Ghost Club. It felt like he bounced off a wall and then he was right on top of the marquee for the Orpheum. “No!” he cried, trying again to poof himself to the club. And again, it felt like he hit a wall, but this time he poofed inside of the Orpheum, there with Julie and Flynn in the green room.

The music blaring in the room was scarily familiar. Bobby remembered being 12 years old and listening to Depeche Mode with the boys. _Enjoy the Silence_ had come out that year, and one night they had been in the studio – then just the Wilson’s garage – listening to it, when Alex had started drumming along to it, and Luke added his own harmony to the song. When the song ended and started again, Reggie had paused the CD player and suggested that the four of them should form a band. _Fine, universe_ , he thought to himself, _signs._

“Julie!” He said, running towards her. “Julie, you have to come with me, right now.”

“Bobby?” She turned. “What are you doing here?”

A jolt ran through Bobby, and he groaned. _Shit_ , that hurt. “It wasn’t it. Playing here wasn’t fuckin’ it. I need you to come with me, _now,_ Julie.” Bobby unthinkingly went to grab her shoulder, but it connected. _It was fucking solid._ The room glowed with a golden hue and there was a warmth that filled Bobby. He felt invincible, like there was nothing he couldn’t do. They both looked at each other with wide eyes.

“Well that’s new,” he stated and then winced. There was a sharp pain on his wrist, and the stamp Caleb had given him mere hours ago floated up and off of him.

“Woah, hey Bobby!” Flynn said. “Nice shave. Wait, I can see you, what the hell?”

He gave her a panicked smile and almost giggled. “Hi Flynn. Uh, thanks, and no idea. Can you just stall Ray somehow? Julie’s gotta get back to the studio,” he turned to Julie with an idea forming in his mind. “Okay, I’m gonna try something. Hold my hand and focus on the studio. Focus on what it looks like, smells like, feels like, and where it is. Okay?” There was something telling him that he was absolutely right in his assumptions and that this was going to work.

“Okay,” she nodded and closed her eyes.

Bobby glanced up at Flynn. “We’ll be at the studio if you need us.” He smiled, looked at Julie, held on to her hand tight, and poofed the two home.

The boys were shouting in the studio.

“We gotta go after him.”

“Where would he even – Bobby, thank fuck!”

“ _Julie?_ You brought _Julie_?”

“I fixed it!” He interrupted Luke’s question. “Julie’s magic! You were right, Reg,” he turned to the three boys, and paused. In the two minutes he was gone, they somehow managed to look even worse. None of them were standing up, and they were all leaning on the couch to keep themselves upright. Alex had actually started crying at this point, Luke’s face was the blotchiest Bobby had seen, and Reggie, Reggie just looked wrecked. “Okay, okay, uh, Julie has some cool power, and my stamp is gone and, uh, yeah, Julie, do your thing and fix it…” he trailed off, moving his hands as though he was presenting her to a crowd.

Julie ran over to Luke, who was the closest to her and gave him a hug. Immediately, Luke sat up straighter and his eyes grew brighter as he and Julie glowed. He gave Julie a soft smile before turning to Alex and Reggie. “I feel stronger,” he told them. He and Julie crawled over to Alex and Reggie and combined the hug. They all were enveloped in a golden glow.

“I don’t, I don’t feel as weak anymore,” Reggie said.

“Yeah, me neither. Not that, you know, I was ever that weak,” Alex added.

Luke moved his head so he could look at Bobby. “Bobby, get your ass over here you fucker.”

Bobby ran over, slid to the ground, and threw his arms around Reggie and Julie. The boys hissed and stamps on their arms floated up and dissolved in the air. He felt the tension and stress that had been hanging over his head for the last twenty-four hours dissipate into nothingness while he held on to his bandmates, his best friends and the best thing that had ever happened to him.

The five of them stayed like that for a few moments longer, basking in one another’s presence and relieved that they managed to survive. Julie started to pull away, but paused when Luke let out a whine.

“I gotta go, Flynn’s supposed to be covering for me with my dad, and I don’t know how I’d explain getting back to the studio without actually walking out of the building. I’m sure I can convince him to not stay for the rest of the concert, but,” she paused, “do any of you want to come with?”

“Yeah, of course, Julie,” Luke replied.

“I’ll pop you back over,” Bobby said. He felt Reggie tense up under his hand. “But then I think I’ll come back to the studio. Sorry, Jules.”

“Why can’t I take Julie?” Luke asked.

“Because you were closer to death than I was, and I don’t want you trying to poof Julie to the green room when you haven’t been in it in 25 years.”

“Well you don’t gotta be so rude about it,” Luke pouted.

Bobby reached over to flick Luke on the nose. “Shush.”

From the corner of his eye, Bobby saw Alex giving Reggie a look. “Yeah, I’ll go with you two, Julie,” he paused and said the next words carefully, as though he was worried about what their reaction would be. “But I might dip out to find Willie. I don’t know, yet.”

“Yeah, dude, that’s fine,” Luke replied. He stood up and held a hand up to Julie so she could stand as well. “We can go together later. Safety in numbers and all that. We don’t need Caleb grabbing us, again.”

Julie paused and looked down at the ground for a moment. “You guys are idiots,” she said, finally looking up at them, her eyes slightly glossy. “You could’ve just stayed put, but you came back… for me.”

Luke grabbed her hand. “No music is worth making, Julie, if we’re not making it with you. No regrets.”

Julie made a soft noise and threw her arms around Luke. “I love you guys,” she said.

“Love you too, Julie,” they all responded.

Julie pulled away from Luke’s embrace but continued to hold his hand. Alex grabbed Luke’s other hand, and Julie gestured for Bobby to take hers

Bobby kissed Reggie’s temple. “Be back in a sec.” He stood up and grabbed Julie’s hand. “Now remember, clearly imagine the green room in your head, ‘kay?”

“Got it,” she responded.

They poofed out of the studio and back to the Orpheum.

“ – bathroom, she’s fine, Ray!” Flynn shouted. She turned around and almost jumped. “Oh thank god, you’re back, Jules. And hi ghosties.”

“Hi Flynn,” Bobby responded, “and, uh, bye Flynn. Have fun bugging Luke and Alex.” He poofed out as fast as he could to get back to Reggie in the studio.

Reggie was crying in the same spot Bobby left him.

“ _Shit_ ,” Bobby rushed over. “Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay – let’s get you off the couch, hmm? – We’re gonna be okay,” Bobby pulled Reggie up so he was properly sitting on the couch and took Reggie’s face in his hands and ran his thumbs over his cheeks. “Everything’s gonna be okay, Reggie.”

Reggie grabbed Bobby’s jacket and fisted it in his hands. “You left,” he croaked out.

“It was just for a sec, Reg, but I’m fine. I’m here now.”

Reggie shook his head. “No. You left us. You were going to give yourself up, for us.”

Bobby felt his heart drop into his stomach. He pulled Reggie into a hug, holding him against his chest. “Oh _sweetheart_ , I know. I know, and I’m so sorry. I should have told you all what I was doing, but I was so scared I was gonna lose you, and I just had to try something.”

“You wouldn’t have had to if I wasn’t so stupid,” Reggie mumbled into his chest.

Bobby paused and pulled himself away from the hug. “Reggie-love, what the hell are you talking about?” Reggie kept his head in Bobby’s chest. Bobby tilted Reggie’s head up to look at him. “Why are you saying you’re stupid?”

“I was the one that wanted to get back at Tommy for you, and- and- and, if I hadn’t done that, if we didn’t go to the club to get back at him, then none of this would’ve happened. And then you tried to protect us from Caleb, from our _own_ mistakes, and then he stamped you, and you got jolted, too, and we would’ve left you alone again, and it’s all because I was stupid and didn’t talk to you,” Reggie ended his speech by crying harder, gasping every time he attempted to inhale.

Bobby carded his hand through Reggie’s hair and placed one of Reggie’s hands on his chest. “Shhh, it’s okay, just breathe with me, okay? In, 2, 3, 4. Out, 2, 3, 4.” He kept counting for Reggie, exaggerating the movements of his chest. Once Reggie’s sobs had tapered off, Bobby spoke again. “Listen to me, Reg, you were trying to help. It’s okay, beeboo, I promise, we’re okay. I don’t blame you in the slightest, and I know Alex and Luke don’t blame you either. You just wanted to fix things, make me feel better, make it all better. Darling, that’s what you _do_ , that’s what you’ve always done, that’s what I love about you. You wanted to make me happy, how could I ever think that was you being stupid?”

“I should’ve just talked to you.”

“Yeah, you could’ve, but how? I had just left, and I was upset and asked to be left alone. While I don’t know what happened after I left, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if Luke was upset with himself, and you all wanted to fix it to make me happy. And if Willie thought that Caleb would be the best option to fix things, then you would’ve gone with. You’re telling me you blame Willie?”

“No!” Reggie responded. “He didn’t know, and he tried to fix it.”

Bobby gave him a look. “Now who does that sound like, hmm? Because I think that also sounds like the love of my life. He’s an incredible person, a killer bassist, and cares so much about others and making them happy, maybe you’ve heard of him?” Reggie looked away. “Hey, no, you listen to me when I’m complimenting you.”

“I hate you,” Reggie grumbled.

“You love me,” Bobby kissed his forehead. “And I love you.”

“You’re a sap.”

“That is your fault,” Bobby shot back softly, bopping him on the nose. “I was not this sappy before we started dating.” The two smiled at each other before Bobby got serious again. “I don’t blame you for this at all, and I don’t think you’re stupid, either, _and_ I know the boys will agree with me. You shouldn’t blame yourself, Reggie. I’ll remind you over and over again: you are not to blame for this. It’s all Caleb’s fault.”

Bobby saw that Reggie wanted to argue back. He had a look in his eyes that only came out once in a blue moon that screamed he wasn’t happy with where their conversation ended up. “Sucks to suck, Reg. Turns out you’re not the worst person in the universe.” Reggie rolled his eyes but smiled, and he grabbed Bobby’s hand, intertwining their fingers.

Bobby distantly heard the slams of car doors in the distance and some singing. He couldn’t make out the words, but it was getting closer, so he expected it was the Molinas. About half a minute later, Julie came down to the studio. She glanced at Reggie, and then looked at Bobby. He gave her a quick nod to let her know that Reggie was okay. She walked over.

“I know Luke said his bit and all,” she said softly, “but I wanted to say it again. You didn’t have to come back for me.”

“’Course we did, Julie,” Bobby replied. “We’d do anything for you.”

“Plus the tugs were kinda hard to ignore,” Reggie added.

Julie tilted her head and furrowed her brow. “What tugs?”

“The tugs that brought us to the Orpheum,” Reggie said.

“When we were at the club, it sort of felt like you were calling to us. That’s how we were able to get away from Caleb,” Bobby explained. “We wouldn’t have been able to leave if you hadn’t’ve showed us the way out. You’ve got _magic_ , Jules. I wasn’t saying that just to make dorko over here laugh earlier.”

Julie looked down and scrunched up her nose, deep in thought. A few moments later, Luke and Alex poofed back into the studio. She looked up at them. “Either I can’t see other ghosts, or you didn’t find Willie.”

“We didn’t find him,” Alex replied. His jaw was set and his fingers were drumming on his thighs.

“But that’s okay because Caleb may just have everyone in the club staying there for the night, and we can try again tomorrow,” Luke said. There was an odd rhythm to his voice, as though he had told Alex that a couple of times already that night.

“Yeah, Lex, we can go looking for him tomorrow, don’t you worry,” Bobby reassured.

Julie looked at Alex, and then focused on the tight hold Reggie still had on Bobby’s fingers. “My dad’s already a bit suspicious at my disappearance earlier, and the fact that I went on stage late, so he’s gonna need me back in the house. Plus Carlos knows about you all, and I owe him a conversation…” she trailed off.

“Yeah, Julie, no worries,” Luke said. “You gotta be with your family, that’s cool.”

“Well, yeah, but I…” she paused again. “I was wondering if you wanted to come to my room? We figured out that Flynn can see you, so you’ll have to be quiet and careful, but I almost just lost you guys, and I don’t really want to not be around you.”

“You want cuddles?” Reggie asked.

“I mean, yeah, Reggie, cuddles would be great.”

“Sweet!”

“Do you want us up in your room now, or do you want to give us a signal that it’s safe for us to come up?” Alex asked.

“Just give me, like, three minutes?”

“Sounds good.”

Julie walked out of the studio, but paused and gave them all a soft smile before heading up to the house.

“Argh!” Luke groaned. “I need to get out of these fucking clothes!”

Bobby looked down and realized that he was still in the stupid black and silver suit. “I appreciate the aesthetic because we look good in this shit, but why do dress clothes have to be so fuckin’ uncomfortable?” He started to unbutton the vest.

Reggie placed his hand over Bobby’s. “While I appreciate your dedication, just think of what you want to be wearing, dork.”

“Oh, shit, you’re right,” he focused on sweatpants and Reggie’s favorite t-shirt on him, and the clothes swapped. “Thanks, babe.”

Reggie laughed. “Two can play at this game, asshole,” he swapped his red suit, which already looked amazing on him, for one of Bobby’s t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants, which looked even better on him.

“I hate you,” Bobby whined, leaning so his forehead was on Reggie’s shoulder.

“You love me, and you know it.”

“You’re right.” Bobby laughed, and then stopped, realizing that Reggie probably was still feeling guilty. “Hey, dumbasses two and three,” he looked over at Alex and Luke who were in their own conversation but stopped and looked over at him. “You don’t blame Reggie for the stamps, right?”

“Fuck no!” Luke responded.

“How the fuck could you’ve known, Reg?” Alex added.

“Told ya,” Bobby looked back at Reggie. “Three to one says you’re not at fault, sunshine.”

Reggie frowned and looked away from the boys. “I know, I get it, but that doesn’t keep me from feeling guilty, ya know?”

Bobby rubbed Reggie’s back, and Alex and Luke glanced at each other.

“It’s been three minutes, Julie’s probably wondering where we are,” Luke said, directing the conversation away from Reggie.

“You’re right. Race ya!” Bobby teased, poofing out to Julie’s room; Reggie, Luke, and Alex all followed him a moment later. Julie gave them a smile before putting her finger to her lips and gesturing them over to her bed. Luke and Reggie jumped onto it, and Alex looked over at him with a smirk.

“Sucks being the oldest now, doesn’t it? You gotta wrangle the children.”

“You know what, Lex? You’re right, it does. You can keep that title for tonight. I don’t want it,” Bobby smiled and jumped on the bed. Alex laughed and shook his head, joining the other four on the bed. It was a tight squeeze, tighter than any time the four of them tried to sleep on the couch together, but it didn’t matter. It felt safe. It felt like home. And it felt like for the first time in a long time, the universe was actually working in their favor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading this fic!  
> I'm thinking about making this a series with some missing scenes included, so if that's something you're interested in, let me know.
> 
> Kudos & Comments are always appreciated  
> I'm @itsthebooks on tumblr, so give me a follow if you want, and I'm always happy to answer questions or prompts.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos & comments are always appreciated
> 
> follow me on tumblr @itsthebooks


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